Syndicate: Good Business Practice
by TRANSnational
Summary: A rival Megacorp is on the verge of a technology breakthrough, Eurocorp agents move in to persuade them of their best interests. This is a short story based on the original Syndicate with some elements of Syndicate Wars. May be expanded but competed for now.


A black, smoggy sky hung over the hulking city of London, much as it always did. From the mid range of the enormous headquarters of the Eurocorp Foundation, a tall suited man had perfect vision of the city, from the mighty financial towers of the powerful, over the black polluted Thames, to the industrial fusion plants that choked out the sky obscuring filth. Even through the thundering acid rain, the bright neon lights, giant screens and tiny specks of hover-cars were clear.

He paused for a moment, thinking of the millions of human beneath him, countless people connected to the hyper net by the indoc chips in their necks. The chips provided a blissful release from the ravaged reality, and their development had made Eurocorp into the unmatched titan it was today. But one could hardly call them an ethical business venture. They sold like the best narcotics, and blinded people to the problems of the world instead of facing them, for a price, of course.

Putting aside his philosophical musings, the man turned to his desk, waving his hand over the holoscanner at the centre, the computer instantly read his palm print, blood type and fingerprints down to the smallest detail. In a microsecond it checked them against a thousand security logs and burst into life. A pleasant female voice chimed.

"_Welcome back online Director_"

As he took his seat, thousands of dancing lights drew themselves into cohesive holograms before him. As a senior director, he was expected to do what was right for the company under any circumstances. For all the impressiveness his title suggested, the global megacorp had hundreds of 'Senior Directors', each one bland and untraceable, perfect for carrying out the less image friendly duties of any good business.

Pressing his hands into the desks control terminals the holograms formed themselves into four perfect humanoid shapes before separating into various stats, names and histories. The holograms then suddenly separated, allowing him to see through the eyes of someone else on the otherside of the planet.

"_Initiating Drone Connection_"

In a dark alleyway of Shanghai a preacher stood on a box, shouting to all who would listen. A disciple of the Church of New Epoch, he cried out messages about brotherhood and the curses of the Indoc chips. Few listened, fewer cared. In a small nameless apartment nearby lay four figures. Perfectly still the appeared to be tall men in their late 20's. Aside from their long black trench coats they seemed totally unremarkable. If one dared to look a little closer, they would realise how wrong they were.

A crackle caused the four to simultaneous sit up. Cybernetics hidden deep beneath their flesh came to life as the special indoc chips in their brains were linked to the Hypernet. The agents were the ultimate tools of corporate espionage, and did their jobs well. Their cybernetic parts ran diagnostics and checked their flesh for blemishes and damage, before standing them up.

All four of them had once been ordinary human beings, until Eurocorp had taken an interest in them. The chips they were initially installed with had checked them as perfect candidates for the Agent programme, the 'Eurocrates' had wasted no time sorting out convenient 'accidents' for each of them. Stripping them down and swapping out their weak none essentials wasn't cheap, and now it was time to get that investments back.

Moments later each of them left apartment in single file. Through their eyes the suited man could see everything. Despite being across the planet the great global cities seemed identical, black skies, polluted water, and illuminating corporate propaganda. Good. He had recently performed a piece of business in New York, where the idiotic fake sky shield blinded everyone with bloom. It was so much easier to practice business when you could see the people who needed to be shot.

Programming in their destination the drones moved through the faceless crowds to their target, the R&D building of the Shanghai Tech Centre. Rumour had it that a rival Megacorp had a very interesting new piece of technology that could revolutionise satellite communication. They had already had some intense negations to buy the technology, followed by some polite conversations pointing out that continuing development would not be in the corps best interests, now it was time to deliver a more persuasive message.

Xin sat back in his security booth. Guarding the Tech Centre provided him with a decent income, but it was hardly fulfilling work. All the computers handled vehicle inspection, and even in the event of danger all he had to do was hit the automatic lockdown button. The spider drones would make short work of any potential saboteurs. The noise from the highway across from him was irritating as hover cars ferried their occupants to and from their offices. Lying back he closed his eyes and let his chip play him some music.

In the blink of an eye his head was blown clean off. His lifeless body slumped backwards and hit the floor with a soft thud. In a window across the highway a drone confirmed his kill, lowered his LR rifle and beamed the information back to London. The suited man was pleased. With the first guard dead his team could move in. He left the sniper in limited self awareness mode and moved the other three troops forward.

The research building was marvellous example of late 21st centre architecture. Intelligent glass that healed when damaged, integrated nano computers that regulated the environment for each experiment, even its own fusion core hidden deep beneath the tower. Eurocorp had briefly considered purchasing it, now they would have to purchase the rubble.

The first drone heated up his pulse laser and blasted. The glass was shattered into tiny pieces and melted under the intense heat. In the few seconds it took the glass to calculate its regrowth pattern the other two agents charged with inhuman speed and infiltrated the hallway. Alarms rang out across the building as it detected it was under attack. The suited man was confident this would not last long. Guard poured out and fired their issue uzi's at the invaders, who in turn lifted their mini guns.

Outside, police units rushed onto the scene. The building had automatically alerted law enforcement about the danger, and their hover cruisers meant they could arrive faster than any conventional car. They focused their weapons on the lead man guarding the door.

"LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPON!" The lead officer yelled through his concealment mask. The suited man smiled. The drone lifted his two handed laser and fired. A police vehicle violently exploded and the intense fire fight began.

inside the two infiltration drones stepped over the shredded remains of the building security team and to their objective. More guards fled as they stepped into the main corridor of the huge complex and casually strolled forward. Another guard leapt from a side room and shot at them. In seconds the minigun fire cut him in two. The central hall was the objective, and would only take moments to reach.

Suddenly someone grabbed one of the drones from behind and flung him into a wall. The suited mans smile disappeared. Spinning his reserve backwards he saw a security guard. He seemed unremarkable...tall...the suited mans heart sank... an enemy drone. Gesturing accordingly his drone threw a punch that could have cut through a tank. The security drone caught it in his own hand and instantly ripped his arm off.

The hologram turned red to indicate major damage to the Agent. The second agent lifted itself up from the floor and fired a concealed pistol. Chunks of the security drones flesh were torn off by the bullets but it barely flinched. Charging forward it grabbed the Agents head and separated it from its body. The suited man swore loudly. They knew they were coming! They knew about the drones! Just when it seemed it could get no worse a third red screen joined the other two, the perimeter drone was in danger.

The sniper drone watched through its scope as the drone outside was gradually cut down by the police forces. Deep down it felt a human instinct to help its team mate, but the chip in its brain stayed focus on the orders to remain concealed and observe. Through the digital scope it could see the agent fall to its knees as a police sniper tore through its inner plating with an AP rifle. As its systems failed, it saw the terror in the agents eyes as its chip failed and his human thoughts returned for a mere second before dying.

The suited man repressed his rage as two of the holograms failed. He now only had connection to the armless and observation agent. He had hoped to avoid this option, but it seemed that he had underestimated corporate rivalry. He drew the emergency protocol pattern into the panel on the desk, activating the damaged agents environment destruction programme.

The Eurocorp had access to a huge network of former military satellites put in orbit by the US government a decade or two before its collapse. The purchase of 'Satellite Rain' had proven invaluable for building the Global Uplink Network, but few knew that the weapon capabilities of the satellites was left switched on. Of course the targeting systems were useless when most of the potential targets were constantly covered by clouds of pollution, unless you had something you could lock onto remotely...

Thousands of miles above the Earth the G.U.N satellite for China gently moved into position. The Chip in the agent's brain broadcast its location to the millimetre. Its onboard systems calculated the correct distance for the destruction of a single building and opened a launch bay. A huge titanium beam was moved into position and fired down the planet with super sonic speeds. Heating up in the atmosphere, it glowed a brilliant white light as it descended towards it target.

Shutting down the drone connection manually, the suited man could now only see through its eyes. For a moment he heard the Agent scream as his conscious thought came back and he saw his ruined stump that had once been his arm. It didn't last long. Seconds later the building was ripped apart, the security drone and all of the cursed research with him. Programming the sniper drone to return to its holding compound the suited man logged off and erased all history of the attack from the computers memory.

Connecting his uplink to the vice president of Eurocorp, the suited man gave his report. Huge collateral damage, but nothing they couldn't handle. They managed to pay off the right amount of people in far worse situations. A little alarming that rival drones were starting to pop up, but he was certain that the tragic terrorist attack would bump up Eurocorp stock a point or two tomorrow. Suddenly his computer froze...

Impossible! Eurocorp security was airtight! They owned the hypernet! How was it possible it had a fault... Suddenly the holo screens activated, pulsing a deep blood red. A gentle electronic male voice spoke...almost reassuringly.

"_Rejoice my child, I am Harbinger...The church has come to bring you salvation..._"


End file.
